Grades 9 - 12 Math

Michigan Department of Education high school graduation requirements are designed to ensure students will be ready for college level classes. The skills learned will also allow them to excel in many job fields.

High school students have to take four years of math including Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. One math class must be taken during the student’s senior year. Below is a simple look at the three required high school classes. Ask your child's teacher or counselor for more information.

Algebra I
 

• Builds on understandings and skills developed in middle school. Students sharpen their abilities to solving equations, expand their work with functions to include linear (constant growth rate) exponential (exponential growth and decay) and quadratic  functions, and become better at solving problems and reasoning with algebra. There’s also a good portion of statistics in the Algebra I course that builds on middle school work.

Geometry
 

• Builds on understandings developed in middle school. Students solve problems involving shapes, deepen their abilities to see and create transformations of shapes, and develop reasoning skills through proofs. Trigonometry of right triangles is included, along with coordinate geometry. And there’s an extension of probability concepts included in Geometry.

Algebra II
 

• Extends the work done in Algebra I by exploring more complex equations and additional families of functions, including logarithmic and trigonometric functions. More statistics and probability is included in Algebra II. Proficiency in Algebra II is useful in many career fields and is a foundation for more advanced courses in high school and college.

Schools have different options for the fourth course. Consult with your child’s guidance department or mathematics teachers for more information on specific courses and sequences.